CZAPNIK 
Ben

 
Post-Doctoral Fellow

Academic Fellow

Ben was awarded a PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2020 for a dissertation addressing the WTO’s right to regulate, the public morals exception and the Seals dispute. He is particularly interested in the intersection between international trade law and animal ethics, including questions about how judges engage in legal and moral reasoning on sensitive issues regarding the exploitation of animals.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Contact

bczapnik@nus.edu.sg
6601 6726
FED-02-30

Education

PhD (University of Birmingham); BA/LLB (University of Melbourne); Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria

Ben was awarded a PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2020 for a dissertation addressing the WTO’s right to regulate, the public morals exception and the Seals dispute. He is particularly interested in the intersection between international trade law and animal ethics, including questions about how judges engage in legal and moral reasoning on sensitive issues regarding the exploitation of animals.

Ben has previously worked for the Australian government as an international trade negotiator and lawyer, including on a diplomatic posting to Geneva. He also worked for the United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum as a trade policy adviser and as a solicitor in private practice.

He has undertaken a post-doctoral fellowship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where he researched China’s trade relations, including its growing trade tensions with Australia and the US.  He has taught as an adjunct professor at the World Trade Institute (University of Berne) and the University of Barcelona.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Ben Czapnik and Bryan Mercurio, ‘The Use of Trade Coercion and China’s Model of “Passive-Aggressive Legalism”’ (2023) 26(2) Journal of International Economic Law 322.

Ben Czapnik, ‘” Moral” Determinations in WTO Law: Lessons from the Seals Dispute’ (2022) 25 Journal of International Economic Law.

Ben Czapnik, ‘Will the Trade Facilitation Agreement’s Novel Architecture and Flexibilities Have Unforeseen Consequences? An Analysis in the Context of World Trade Organization Accessions’ (2017) 12(1) Global Trade and Customs Journal 2.

Ben Czapnik, ‘The Trade Facilitation Agreement: A Revolutionary New Approach to Multilateral Negotiations’ (2015) 18(4) Journal of International Economic Law 773.

Book chapters

Ben Czapnik, ‘An Enhanced Role for the Pacific in the Indo-Pacific Economic Architecture’ in Anita Prakash (ed) Regional Integration in the Indo-Pacific: Connectivity, Cooperation, and New Supply-Chain Linkages (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, 2023)

 


  • WTO Law
  • International Law
  • Law and Morality
  • Behavioural Law
  • China’s Trade Relations